FIFA U20 World Cup: Group Stage

{Written having watched all of the group stage matches on FS1 or FS2, but not any of the Round of 16. DVR’s are beautiful things.}

GROUP A

This group for the USA has been hailed as the best youth team produced on the men’s side in decades. That may be true, but it’s less a factor of stateside development than it is of international recruitment: the brightest lights for the USA are all based overseas, most notably Gedion Zelalem, Emerson Hyndman, and Cameron Carter-Vickers ( England), Zack Steffen (Germany), Rubio Rubin (Holland), and (at least in the first game) Maki Tall (France).

It’s a good squad, certainly, quite strong in midfield, and with an attacking line that seems to be rounding into form–at long last for Rubin, but also nicely for Paul Arriola and Bradford Jamieson IV. I worry about their defense against top-tier teams, and would rather not have to depend on Steffen pulling rabbits out of his hat game after game.

The Ukraine result, especially, was troubling: Ukraine is a good side, but they aren’t that good, and the US seemed to very quickly go from highly competitive to largely disinterested. Certainly, Viktor Kovalenko had a lot do with that, and the combination of him and Artem Biesiedin looked quite strong throughout their group stage matches.

New Zealand are a good story as the hosts, and I think good things loom for Noah Billingsley, but I don’t see them moving out of the round of 16, especially given what should be a difficult matchup as a 3rd place seed.

GROUP B

This was the upset of the first round for me: boasting the best player in the competition that I saw, Argentina secured only two points, and crashed out of the competition. A horribly disappointing result, and one that prevents us all from seeing more of Angel Correa, which is sad for all involved.

Correa looked like the real deal: electric with the ball at his feet, good movement, an eye for goal, intelligence. He was always dangerous.

Ghana impressed again, returning many of the players who were first seen at the U17 World Cup a couple years ago. Yes, they were quite lucky to get the draw against Austria, but even if they lose that game, they still progress. Clifford Aboagye and Samuel Tetteh were the best of their players–the attention was focused on Benjamin Tetteh as the ubiquitous tall striker and Yah Yeboah, because (I assume) the announcers saw his affiliation with Manchester City, but the former is clearly used to playing opponents that struggle with his size alone, and the latter, while quite good as a calming force in midfield, lacked the dynamism of Aboagye and S. Tetteh.

It seems that moves from Ghana to Europe are slow and late in coming, so it’s hard to really predict what happens next for those two.

Also notable was Kingsley Fobi, who held his own as an outside back at the tender age of 16.

Don’t have a lot to say about Austria: they are very well organized, play solid defense, and as long as Bernd Gschweidl can get free once per game, can win a lot of 1-0 matches.

GROUP C

Portugal was highly impressive, but aren’t they always, just before losing in the next round? Ivo Rodrigues, Gerson Martins, and André Silva sparkled, but it was a weak group: neither Colombia nor Senegal looked particularly strong.

GROUP D

Mexico‘s collapse rivaled Argentina’s in many ways: one attacker sparkled (in this case, especially in the first two games, that was Hirving Lozano), but the team was lackluster, ill-disciplined, and ultimately quite ineffective.

This opened the door for a surprisingly game side from Mali: their performance against Mexico–especially after the first few minutes–was an absolute clinic in defensive organization and recovery, in how to combat a team that was quicker, technically better, and more skilled. Great coaching job, combined with the skills of Adama Traoré.

Serbia was the best team of the group, surprisingly for me, but the Europeans were composed and very tight defensively, while showing much more going forward than, say, Austria did. An emerging dark horse.

GROUP E

Most frightening for the rest of the field, Brazil came through the group with 9 points and never looked to really hit their stride. Historically at the youth level, they have a hard time moving into that upper gear, so we’ll see if it happens, but certainly the talent is there. Gabriel Jesus and Andreas Pereira were known quantities, but for me Judivan, Malcom, and Lucão were also quite impressive.

I don’t expect a lot from this Nigeria side, although their last match victory over Hungary (which I was unable to watch) does hint a team rounding into form. Hungary had the revelation of this group, though: I was very impressed by Bence Mervó. He looks at first to be a player successful at the youth game because of his size and strength, but his technical awareness and finesse were on fine display.

GROUP F

Much like their opening game to the WWC, Germany‘s 8-1 thrashing of Fiji did little more than put Hany Mukhtar and Marc Stendera in good position to win the Golden Boot for the competition. It certainly didn’t say much about their quality, and this team is really yet to be tested. Still, it’s a very strong side, and a contender for the championship.

# # #

So, that’s that. I can’t seem to find an empty bracket for the round of sixteen, so I can’t predict the outcomes, but the best teams I’ve seen so far are Germany, Brazil, and Ghana . The Americans could make some noise if they can keep it clean at the back, and Mali has shown enough tactical strength to surprise. Hungary and Serbia would be decent long shots, if I were forced to pick a couple.

But the U20 looks a lot like the grown up game right now: traditional powers, an African outsider, and the USA knocking politely to be let into the party.